Book Review -- Mockingjay

Title: MockingjayAuthor: Suzanne CollinsGenre: YAPages: Hardback, 380Published: 2010Opening Lines: "I stare down at my shoes, watching as a fine layer of ash settles on the worn leather. This is where the bed I shared with my sister, Prim, stood. Over there was the kitchen table."

"Katniss Everdeen, girl on fire, has survived even though her home has been destroyed. Gale has escaped. Katniss's family is safe. Peeta has been captured by the Capitol. District 13 really does exist. There are rebels. There are new leaders. A revolution is unfolding.

"It is by design that Katniss was rescued from the arena in the cruel and haunting Quarter Quell, and it is by design that she has long been part of the revolution without knowing it. District 13 has come out of the shadows and is plotting to overthrow the Capitol. Everyone, it seems, has had a hand in the carefully laid plans -- except Katniss.

"The success of the rebellion hinges on Katniss's willingness to be a pawn, to accept responsibility for countless lives, and to change the course of the future of Panem. To do this, she must put aside her feelings of anger and distrust. She must become the rebels' Mockingjay -- no matter what the personal cost."

~ Jacket copy

Thoughts: With Katniss' rescue from the Quarter Quell and the uprising of the Districts, I really wondered how Collins was going to wrap this series up. The book starts sometime after Katniss is brought to District 13. She has been there long enough to get the lay of the land, find her hiding spots, etc. After being rescued, left out of the scheme, and leaving Peeta behind, she is completely broken and fractured; a mirror of her former self.

President Coin, the leader of District 13, and several other key members want Katniss to finally take up the role as Mockingjay and spearhead the rebellion. However, this doesn't mean being on front lines and fighting with the people. No, she has to become a TV star. Wearing Cinna's final costume, she must strut around with amazing engineered weapons and pretend.

Most of the book is spent following Katniss wander around District 13, struggle with her role of the Mockingjay, dealing wit her feelings towards Peeta, and just trying to hold it together. Unlike the other books, this is not a Katniss we are familiar with. In a lot of ways, her despondence feels very put on a self-involved. In Catching Fire, she kind of struggles with the idea of starting this revolution; however, she seems to run from it in the final installment.

I'm not sure what to say about this book. By far, it was not my favorite in the series. I felt how they handled Finnick's character was completely foreign to what we were shown in Catching Fire. I couldn't understand the willingness to follow President Coin when she seemed as corrupt as Snow. However, when faced with this rebellion, I feel that Collins is trying to broach the issue of war and what lengths people will go to. I find her commentary the strongest in the treatment of Katniss' prep team and the traps Beetee and Gale are creating. In an effort to overthrow the corruption of President Snow, the rebellion is no better. It is a slippery slope.

All in all, I did enjoy the book. Wanting to know exactly how it ended, I was driven through it. My problems reside with the treatment of some of the characters, Katniss' despondence, and the treatment of District 13. In addition, while it does wrap up the story, I felt as though something was missing. I felt that Collins could have dug into things a little more deeply. But, as it sits now, I feel that she barely scratched the surface.

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I am a recovering English major, closet bibliophile, breve addicted, zombie lover with a rockabilly and heavy metal fetish.